With a fresh dispute heating up and spreading across the school community in Culver City, where does School Board member Saundra Davis stand on the new issue ?
Never a bystander, Ms. Davis has parked in a well-defined position on every community-wide education debate that has arisen during her 7 1/2 years on the School Board.
This time, though, she sounded different — verging on neutrality, rare territory for her.
Toddling toward the homestretch of her second and likely final term on the School Board, Ms. Davis this morning was asked her position on student permits, whether the numbers should be sharply reduced as some leaders in the community are advocating.
A Middling Stance
Neither in opposition nor support, Ms. Davis planted solidly in the center aisle. “I need a lot more information than I have now before I can decide,” she says, adding that she is openminded.
“If somebody can give me reasons for reducing permits that would benefit our students, I will listen.
“The downside is that if the number of permits were reduced,” she said, “teachers would have to be laid off and the Average Daily Attendance revenue would be cut. Programs would have to be cut, too.
“So I want to know reasons that some people think permits should be reduced.”
Her coolness notwithstanding, Ms. Davis recently was the pivotal third vote on the School Board in authorizing a community meeting two weeks from tomorrow, Thursday, June 26, at 6 o’clock, at the Robert Frost Auditorium on the Culver City High School campus, to debate the state of permits. “I always like to hear what the community has to say,” she said.
At Capacity or Not?
Is there an excessive number of out-of-town students crowding onto Culver City campuses, as some suggest?
“If our schools actually are overcrowded, if students have to wait too long in lines for lunch or they get to classes late because of crowded corridors, those are legitimate complaints,” Ms. Davis said. “One of the important problems is that we don’t know what the student capacity is for each of our schools.
“I would not be willing to eliminate permits altogether. I could be agreeable to placing a cap on permits, as long as there is wiggle room. That is a must.”
